Why Women Earn Less, and How to Avoid The Gender Trap!

As a woman, unless you act now, by the time you retire, you will have been paid about $455,000 less than a man, for the same work.  This article explains those aspects of salary or income generation that are under women's own control, and tells them how to overcome cultural challenges quickly, easily, and permanently!

Despite Legislation for Equality, the Big Picture Hasn't Changed for Women in Professions or Business

In civilised countries around the world, equal pay has been enshrined in law for over 40 years.  Yet even today women in professions are being paid roughly 75 cents for every dollar men receive, for the same work!

Over a lifetime of work, a woman can expect to lose about $455,000 due to unequal pay.  That's why women have less to set aside for their future, and why they struggle to build up solid asset bases.  That's also why women receive smaller superannuation payouts.  Astoundingly, by the time a woman retires, her superannuation pension will be only about 50% of the average man's!

This situation compounds in the most tragic way when we learn that even today, a married, full-time working woman still does on average 90% of household chores and childcare.

Why it's Not Just a Women's Issue

This inequity in payment rates doesn't just disadvantage women - it also disadvantages their children and their partners.  When women are not paid what they are worth, their whole family suffers.

And in fact when women are generally undervalued in this way, we end up with a society that both subtly and overtly disadvantages and disables women to the extent that they are simply unable to contribute their rich potential to their families, companies, social groups, and the wider community.

In corporations, where women are conspicuous by their general absence from boards and positions of senior management, those companies perform some 15% worse than companies that have even just 2 women on their boards.  The proof of women's worth is there for all to see, all the way to the bottom line.

The economic empowerment of women is a cause we should all be working for because it is the only way women will gain the space and the independence to widely contribute their expertise for the benefit of all.

Why is This Ridiculous Situation Still Happening?

The key factors in women's failure to succeed in professions or business to the degree that men do have now been identified. 

Often a patriarchal culture is blamed, and it's true that biases and prejudices against women do play a part.  These cultural biases can prevent us from noticing even the obvious, for example that full-time working women are still doing 400% more housework than their male partners.

However of far more importance and significance are two other factors which women can and should take control of:

Women have not sufficiently realised the importance of mentoring as an aid to rapid and smooth success

Having an experienced mentor has been identified as the single most significant predictor of success.  However female mentors are not as obvious as male mentors, and it can be particularly difficult to locate a female high achiever simply because there are so few of them. 

Before you start thinking of the difficulties this implies, consider that the "single mentor" pattern is a male pattern which is based on the "cult of the individual".

Women are team-focussed rather than self-focussed and this is one of their greatest strengths, and one of the reasons their contributions have such exponential leverage.

The good news is that by peer-mentoring in groups, far more progress is made, more quickly.  Certainly we've noted that whenever we've provided the environment for such mentoring the outcomes in terms of personal and professional development, and the doors that have so quickly and freely opened, have been outstanding.

Working with a mentor or mentors needn't take a lot of time, and can even be done on-line so that you can participate no matter where you are, all in the convenience of your own time and at your own computer.

"Business networking" has been misunderstood and undervalued

This activity has been identified as the single most effective way of developing careers and businesses.  70% of business comes from referrals, and the great majority of referrals come from other business people whom we've spent enough time with for them to refer intelligently and in bulk! 

However women, unlike men, wear multiple hats, and are responsible for multiple roles.  These tremendous impositions on their time mean that women tend to neglect activities that are for their own direct benefit.  Networking is either neglected altogether, or dropped as a first casualty of time pressures.

And "networking" can be a real trap.  Many networking organisations charge a great deal of money for very little support. 

In addition, not many people know how to network so it works - you'd be surprised by all the bad advice out there from so-called experts and even in books!  You certainly must get involved in networking, but you must ensure you're not wasting your time.

What You Can Do to Be More Successful, Much More Easily, NOW!

The best advice I could possibly give you is to first get hold of a free ebook called "Speed Business Networking - The Manual - More Leads, More Fun, More Money" (just check the home page of this site and fill out your details to almost instantly receive this valuable giveaway.)

Women who've read that book have frequently expressed how relieved they were to hear that all their instinctive dislike of old networking practices were for good reason!

Secondly, check out Speed Business Networking for yourself, and join a group that is not only committed to women's success, but has the expertise to make it happen!

Sincerely 

PS:  Mark Walsh, president of VerticalNet, says that business people who avoid on-line strategies are "like dinosaurs that gather together to eat the last leaves." 

Don't be a dinosaur, take the plunge into on-line business communities and reap the benefit, not just today, but for your future!

Your Simple Steps to Easy Business Development

1 Download the free ebook "Speed Business Networking - the Manual" to understand a much more effective (and more fun) approach to utilising networking to get real results.  Your business community is your key to success if only you know how to build it, not only for referrals, but for advocacy, strategic alliances, and generous sharing of expertise. 

2 As well as attending your business community's networking events (and of course we recommend you join Australia's ORIGINAL Speed Business Networking group), and getting help to carry out your own schedule of informal networking for warm referrals,  diarise at least one hour a week where you will LEARN and USE far easier, faster ways to take your business to that next level, enjoying more success than you ever dreamed possible, with far less stress than you have experienced up till now. 

3 Consider purchasing the groundbreaking ebook "Take Your Team to the Top:  How to Double Your Sales in 30 Days from Implementation".  Click HERE to review it and even download the free preview.

4 Spend that one hour working on your business instead of in it, on the on-line member-only resources at

Telephone (61) 8 9246 1977
  Fax (61) 8 9246 1966
  Email:info@speedbusinessnetworking.com